GL / XM assorted posts, 2003

Samuel Berning · January 5th, 2003, 07:23 AM

" The second question is that in 5 minutes or so the camera turns itself off. Is there a way to overide this function or is there some other way that I haven't figured out yet to use my remote to turn the camers on and start filming?"

From the manual, page 36:
"The camcorder automatically turns off if you leave it in record pause mode for more than 5 minutes to protect tape and video heads. You can select whether to turn off the camcorder (SHUT OFF) or only the recorder section (VCR STOP).
At VCR STOP, the camcorder remains turned on, so that the camcorder settings such as aperture and shutter speed are retained. Press the start/stop button to start recording from the VCR STOP state."

The real problem with recording your fishing is that you will no longer be able to exagerate 'the one that got away'.

Good Luck!
Samuel

Graham Bernard · January 5th, 2003, 11:32 AM

Oh yes you can! What about morphong software - hee hee! ;-)

Ed Anders · January 8th, 2003, 02:34 AM

Just received my GL-2 a week ago. Got a good deal from a reliable seller with a US warantee. I started reading DVi Communityand found it incredibly informative. Followed threads that had great questions that not only helped me learn more about my camera but also made me wonder if my camera was malfunctioning and I didn't know it yet. So I played with it, tested it and just tried the color warming tests, everthing works fine. I was impressed with the picture quality straight out of the box but after switching to movie mode and reducing the sharpness and bumping up the gain and setup, I'm thrilled!

My question to anyone who knows is, "Can't I just white balance with pure white and deal with warmth and/or coolness of color in post using Premiere or After Effects or some other post software or am I missing something in the capture by not warm balancing my picture from the get-go with 5 or 10% Cyan or Blue for that nice warm look that I like?"

Thanks,
Ed

Jeff Donald · January 8th, 2003, 06:42 AM

You could but it would lower the quality of your footage slightly. Everytime you render a project the files are altered as part of the rendering process. This slight alteration lowers the quality of the DV material. The best quality will result from doing the WB in camera.

Jeff

January 8th, 2003, 07:29 AM

Hi!

I'm thinking of buying a XM2. Are there any full frame capture pictures available somewhere?
I remember a problem with the xl-1(s) with a couple of black lines at the bottom. Are there any of these problems on the GL-/XM2?

/Slas

Barry Goyette · January 8th, 2003, 10:10 AM

I've got several movies and still posted on my .mac website...here's one of the links...the rest are available once you get to the page.

http://homepage.mac.com/barrygoyette/PhotoAlbum8.html

buddy1065 has also posted and extensive array of clips and stills...do a search for his posts to find his site.

Regarding the black lines along the edge of the frame...with the gl2, canon has solved this issue..no blanking in the frame.

Barry

Rob Lohman · January 8th, 2003, 04:51 PM

Jeff is right. But I have two things to add to that:

1. Output medium
If your output is NOT DV than you will not have the above slight
quality loss if you do it right (ie, transfer the footage from your
editing application into your color correction suite (if you don't
use the same application) in either a lossless compression or
no compression at all) and output to a format that would require
a re-encode anyways (MPEG1, 2, 4 or Web etc.).

2. WB vs. post
I would definitely try to get the best picture on set without putting
extraordinary amount of time in it (how much is acceptable is up
to you and the time available to shoot everything). Then you will
have less or nothing to do in post. BUT, I personally will fiddle with
the shots in post anyway because I want to add black bars to
create the letterboxed widescreen version. And I almost always
tinker with colors and contrast etc. anyway to get in my taste
a better picture. How much you want to do this is up to you. I
suggest you try some testing (especially with the software
because this will break or make it!!!) before you go ahead with
anything serious! By default Premiere doesn't have much to work
with. After Effects (production bundle especially) has some nice
tools. Avid includes them I think as does Final Cut Pro. There
are ofcourse dedicated post applications out there for compositing,
effects and color grading work.

Good luck!

Ed Anders · January 8th, 2003, 05:24 PM

that makes complete sense. I will always white balance but not necessarily to the light blue cards. I am comfortable transfering and altering uncompresses data knowing what I know now. I guess in-camera warming to 10% Cyan would make for better looking daily's, especially when the suits and bean-counters insist on watching them and injecting their 2 cents, but for my own projects I have enough imagination to see the potential for post production tweaking. Thanks again!

Dirk Goris · January 9th, 2003, 01:40 AM

Hi,

According an article on the website of dv.com it's best to leave the mic att. constantely on to reduce noise. The audio level should be set manually to optain the best audio.
Are there people here who do this?
What are your thoughts?
The article can be read on:
http://www.dv.com/features/
article:DV Camera Audio: Real Numbers, Real Recommendations

Thanks,
Dirk

Don Palomaki · January 9th, 2003, 05:28 AM

The input preamps on many MiniDV camersa hae a relatively high noise floor. Using MIC ATT ON and reduces gain, so the nosie floor of the recorded sound is correspondingly lower, but so is the desired sound level. MIC ATT setting provides a benefit only if the audio input (to the mic or mic jack) is high enough. This is often the case with powered mics such as the ME66 and wireles systems, and may be the case in many venues such as concerts.

If the recorded level is too low, you may be able to add a noise gate, gain and/or compression in post.

Some camcorders have higher nosie floor when in manual volume control method, this was the case with the VX2000 and PD150 when they were released. The PD150 was fixed by Sony, not sure about later production of the the VX200.

The GL1 did not offer any manual gain control.

In summary, whether or not it is good for you epends on what and how you shoot and edit. Try it, expirement and see.

Jed Williamson · January 9th, 2003, 05:18 PM

If i were to purchase a GL2, from a board sponser of course!,
and use it for say 3-4 months on a film project what could i expect for a resale value?

Other than keeping it in perfect condition, what factors would lead to a quick & resonable sale. (extended warranty etc)

The only place in madison to rent a camera has 1 xl1 and it is $175 a day. So i guess buying(credit union loan) -> shooting film
-> reselling (paying of loan) is my only option for now.

Rich Stone · January 9th, 2003, 07:23 PM

I finally broke down and bought my GL2. So far so good but this thing is definitely not point and shoot. The manual controls are sweet but it's going to take me longer than anticipated to get the hang of them. The 20x optical zoom, which is why I chose it over the Sony, is much better than expected.

I've decided to try to make or at least be creative about some of the accessories though. For a bag, I came across a really neat "cooler" type bag with a ton of padding at Sears. I think I could customize it to work just fine for my camera and save about $75 to boot.

I was going to get a polar mitten, but at $149, I think I'll try to invent something. My wife thinks she can sew up some fleece stuff and make it work. It's worth a try at least I think. It's *freezing* here so I think it would be prudent.

The mic seems to be just fine for now although I do plan on getting a shotgun. But... I'd like to try to make a smallish windsock thing for the built in mic. Any suggestions on materials for that? The Canon one sells for $119 or something and frankly, that is just insane.

Ed Anders · January 9th, 2003, 08:03 PM

Congrats, I got mine 2 weeks ago and I love it. I picked up a lunch-box type bag from Home Depot for $19.95 (Canadian) and it works great! It is thermally insulated (for keeping food hot or cold) and has two padded compartments, one for my GL-2 and the other for all my assecories and lenses. Comes with a short handle and a clip on shoulder strap. If you were to find this design in the camera accessory section of any store it would probably go for $100 -$200, but since it's only a lunchbox for construction workers it's $19.95!
Enjoy your purchase,
Ed

Rich Stone · January 9th, 2003, 08:08 PM

Exactly Ed. I saw another bag in a sporting goods store for $30 or so that would do nicely as well. There is just something about spending an extra $100 for something because it says "camera bag" on it instead of "lunchbox" or whatever that drives me crazy.

Ed Anders · January 9th, 2003, 08:13 PM

Jed,
I bought my GL-2 new for $1895.00 so for a little more than 10 days of rental you could own one of these babies. I got mine on Ebay and I don't recall seeing many used models for sale but if you do a search try typing in GL2 as one search type and GL-2 as another. I found that I got different results for each. I'm guessing a used model would go for at least half the new price.
Good luck,
Ed

January 5th, 2003, 07:23 AM	#16
Samuel Berning Tourist Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Mt. Angel, OR Posts: 2	Re: Fishing with LANCS " The second question is that in 5 minutes or so the camera turns itself off. Is there a way to overide this function or is there some other way that I haven't figured out yet to use my remote to turn the camers on and start filming?" From the manual, page 36: "The camcorder automatically turns off if you leave it in record pause mode for more than 5 minutes to protect tape and video heads. You can select whether to turn off the camcorder (SHUT OFF) or only the recorder section (VCR STOP). At VCR STOP, the camcorder remains turned on, so that the camcorder settings such as aperture and shutter speed are retained. Press the start/stop button to start recording from the VCR STOP state." The real problem with recording your fishing is that you will no longer be able to exagerate 'the one that got away'. Good Luck! Samuel

January 8th, 2003, 02:34 AM	#18
Ed Anders New Boot Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Vancouver, B.C. Canada Posts: 10	Can I Deal with "warmth" in post? Just received my GL-2 a week ago. Got a good deal from a reliable seller with a US warantee. I started reading DVi Communityand found it incredibly informative. Followed threads that had great questions that not only helped me learn more about my camera but also made me wonder if my camera was malfunctioning and I didn't know it yet. So I played with it, tested it and just tried the color warming tests, everthing works fine. I was impressed with the picture quality straight out of the box but after switching to movie mode and reducing the sharpness and bumping up the gain and setup, I'm thrilled! My question to anyone who knows is, "Can't I just white balance with pure white and deal with warmth and/or coolness of color in post using Premiere or After Effects or some other post software or am I missing something in the capture by not warm balancing my picture from the get-go with 5 or 10% Cyan or Blue for that nice warm look that I like?" Thanks, Ed

January 8th, 2003, 07:29 AM	#20
slas_swe Posts: n/a	XM2 full frames Hi! I'm thinking of buying a XM2. Are there any full frame capture pictures available somewhere? I remember a problem with the xl-1(s) with a couple of black lines at the bottom. Are there any of these problems on the GL-/XM2? /Slas

January 8th, 2003, 04:51 PM	#22
Rob Lohman RED Code Chef Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Holland Posts: 12,514	Jeff is right. But I have two things to add to that: 1. Output medium If your output is NOT DV than you will not have the above slight quality loss if you do it right (ie, transfer the footage from your editing application into your color correction suite (if you don't use the same application) in either a lossless compression or no compression at all) and output to a format that would require a re-encode anyways (MPEG1, 2, 4 or Web etc.). 2. WB vs. post I would definitely try to get the best picture on set without putting extraordinary amount of time in it (how much is acceptable is up to you and the time available to shoot everything). Then you will have less or nothing to do in post. BUT, I personally will fiddle with the shots in post anyway because I want to add black bars to create the letterboxed widescreen version. And I almost always tinker with colors and contrast etc. anyway to get in my taste a better picture. How much you want to do this is up to you. I suggest you try some testing (especially with the software because this will break or make it!!!) before you go ahead with anything serious! By default Premiere doesn't have much to work with. After Effects (production bundle especially) has some nice tools. Avid includes them I think as does Final Cut Pro. There are ofcourse dedicated post applications out there for compositing, effects and color grading work. Good luck! __________________ Rob Lohman, visuar@iname.com DV Info Wrangler & RED Code Chef Join the DV Challenge \| Lady X Search DVinfo.net for quick answers \| Buy from the best: DVinfo.net sponsors

January 8th, 2003, 05:24 PM	#23
Ed Anders New Boot Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Vancouver, B.C. Canada Posts: 10	Thanks Jeff and Rob, that makes complete sense. I will always white balance but not necessarily to the light blue cards. I am comfortable transfering and altering uncompresses data knowing what I know now. I guess in-camera warming to 10% Cyan would make for better looking daily's, especially when the suits and bean-counters insist on watching them and injecting their 2 cents, but for my own projects I have enough imagination to see the potential for post production tweaking. Thanks again!

January 5th, 2003, 11:32 AM	#17
Graham Bernard Old Boot Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: London UK Posts: 3,633	Oh yes you can! What about morphong software - hee hee! ;-)

January 8th, 2003, 06:42 AM	#19
Jeff Donald Warden Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Clearwater, FL Posts: 8,287	You could but it would lower the quality of your footage slightly. Everytime you render a project the files are altered as part of the rendering process. This slight alteration lowers the quality of the DV material. The best quality will result from doing the WB in camera. Jeff

January 8th, 2003, 10:10 AM	#21
Barry Goyette Trustee Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: San Luis Obispo CA Posts: 1,195	I've got several movies and still posted on my .mac website...here's one of the links...the rest are available once you get to the page. http://homepage.mac.com/barrygoyette/PhotoAlbum8.html buddy1065 has also posted and extensive array of clips and stills...do a search for his posts to find his site. Regarding the black lines along the edge of the frame...with the gl2, canon has solved this issue..no blanking in the frame. Barry

January 9th, 2003, 01:40 AM	#24
Dirk Goris Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Belgium Posts: 66	Leaving Mic Att. on all the time? Hi, According an article on the website of dv.com it's best to leave the mic att. constantely on to reduce noise. The audio level should be set manually to optain the best audio. Are there people here who do this? What are your thoughts? The article can be read on: http://www.dv.com/features/ article:DV Camera Audio: Real Numbers, Real Recommendations Thanks, Dirk

January 9th, 2003, 05:28 AM	#25
Don Palomaki Wrangler Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: Northern VA Posts: 4,489	The input preamps on many MiniDV camersa hae a relatively high noise floor. Using MIC ATT ON and reduces gain, so the nosie floor of the recorded sound is correspondingly lower, but so is the desired sound level. MIC ATT setting provides a benefit only if the audio input (to the mic or mic jack) is high enough. This is often the case with powered mics such as the ME66 and wireles systems, and may be the case in many venues such as concerts. If the recorded level is too low, you may be able to add a noise gate, gain and/or compression in post. Some camcorders have higher nosie floor when in manual volume control method, this was the case with the VX2000 and PD150 when they were released. The PD150 was fixed by Sony, not sure about later production of the the VX200. The GL1 did not offer any manual gain control. In summary, whether or not it is good for you epends on what and how you shoot and edit. Try it, expirement and see.

January 9th, 2003, 05:18 PM	#26
Jed Williamson Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Madison, WI Posts: 175	GL2 Resale Value If i were to purchase a GL2, from a board sponser of course!, and use it for say 3-4 months on a film project what could i expect for a resale value? Other than keeping it in perfect condition, what factors would lead to a quick & resonable sale. (extended warranty etc) The only place in madison to rent a camera has 1 xl1 and it is $175 a day. So i guess buying(credit union loan) -> shooting film -> reselling (paying of loan) is my only option for now.

January 9th, 2003, 07:23 PM	#27
Rich Stone New Boot Join Date: Nov 2002 Posts: 16	Finally got my GL2 I finally broke down and bought my GL2. So far so good but this thing is definitely not point and shoot. The manual controls are sweet but it's going to take me longer than anticipated to get the hang of them. The 20x optical zoom, which is why I chose it over the Sony, is much better than expected. I've decided to try to make or at least be creative about some of the accessories though. For a bag, I came across a really neat "cooler" type bag with a ton of padding at Sears. I think I could customize it to work just fine for my camera and save about $75 to boot. I was going to get a polar mitten, but at $149, I think I'll try to invent something. My wife thinks she can sew up some fleece stuff and make it work. It's worth a try at least I think. It's freezing here so I think it would be prudent. The mic seems to be just fine for now although I do plan on getting a shotgun. But... I'd like to try to make a smallish windsock thing for the built in mic. Any suggestions on materials for that? The Canon one sells for $119 or something and frankly, that is just insane.

January 9th, 2003, 08:03 PM	#28
Ed Anders New Boot Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Vancouver, B.C. Canada Posts: 10	Good choice! Congrats, I got mine 2 weeks ago and I love it. I picked up a lunch-box type bag from Home Depot for $19.95 (Canadian) and it works great! It is thermally insulated (for keeping food hot or cold) and has two padded compartments, one for my GL-2 and the other for all my assecories and lenses. Comes with a short handle and a clip on shoulder strap. If you were to find this design in the camera accessory section of any store it would probably go for $100 -$200, but since it's only a lunchbox for construction workers it's $19.95! Enjoy your purchase, Ed

January 9th, 2003, 08:08 PM	#29
Rich Stone New Boot Join Date: Nov 2002 Posts: 16	Exactly Ed. I saw another bag in a sporting goods store for $30 or so that would do nicely as well. There is just something about spending an extra $100 for something because it says "camera bag" on it instead of "lunchbox" or whatever that drives me crazy.

January 9th, 2003, 08:13 PM	#30
Ed Anders New Boot Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Vancouver, B.C. Canada Posts: 10	Jed, I bought my GL-2 new for $1895.00 so for a little more than 10 days of rental you could own one of these babies. I got mine on Ebay and I don't recall seeing many used models for sale but if you do a search try typing in GL2 as one search type and GL-2 as another. I found that I got different results for each. I'm guessing a used model would go for at least half the new price. Good luck, Ed